


Fallout

by MisteryMaiden



Series: And It All Comes Crashing Down [6]
Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: Gen, God's A+ Parenting (Lucifer TV), Hurt Lucifer Morningstar (Lucifer TV), Lucifer Morningstar (Lucifer TV) Devil Reveal, Protective Michael
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-02
Updated: 2020-04-02
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:09:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23438242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MisteryMaiden/pseuds/MisteryMaiden
Summary: The world learns that the Devil has been living in LA.
Relationships: Michael & Lucifer Morningstar (Lucifer TV)
Series: And It All Comes Crashing Down [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1654117
Comments: 25
Kudos: 442





	Fallout

**Author's Note:**

> Here you go, another installment in the series! 
> 
> Honestly you guys, I had no idea that this was going to get as big as it did so fast. Betrayal has become one of my top five most-read fics since I've joined the site. Your comments are one of the best parts of my day and I read every one of them! It baffles me that so many of you like this series so much!
> 
> Seriously, thank you all.

August 17th, 9pm.

Jennifer Walters stared at the destroyed interior of a warehouse, her stomach churning at the feather covered, bloody mess.

She wondered, not for the first time, why this had become her problem to deal with. She had only been a detective for all of two weeks when the world had seemingly lost its collective mind. Suddenly, there were actual angels on Earth introducing themselves to humanity.

One of which was the literal Devil and worked as a consultant for the LAPD.

Worse, Edwards lead on Kinley may have just led them to the catalyst to everything that had just happened, making this officially _their_ crime scene.

Sometimes being partnered to a seasoned detective was not all that it was cracked up to be. It was what had them ending up in situations like this, whenever Edwards had an idea about one of the cases that was on their desk. Their solve rate might not have been as high as the Decker/Morningstar duo’s had been, yet it was still higher than any team with a newly minted detective should have.

“That’s a lot of blood,” she said, looking at the giant pool centered in the middle of the room. Enough blood that would mean that they should be on the look out for a body. She didn’t need to be a forensic scientist to know that no human would have survived blood loss at that volume.

Edwards didn’t bother to answer her, just pulled out his phone to call in the units to process this mess.

Jennifer looked at a familiar pile of dust near the fall wall opposite of them. She had a suspicion to what DNA would find when it was processed.

There was very little doubt that this was the site where whatever had set off God had taken place. Bloody feathers littered the floor, surrounding the pile of blood on all sides. A knife, covered in blood and white fibers, the same color as the feathers, lay discarded near the pile.

Jennifer didn’t know how long she’d been looking as the next thing she knew there were units were everywhere. Taking pictures, collecting feathers, and marking pieces of evidence that might be relevant. Even with all the cops roaming around, it looked like a scene out of a horror movie.

If she hadn’t been in shock, she might have lost her lunch right there and then. Even the more seasoned cops looked a little green at the scene.

It was made a lot worse by the dawning realization of just _who_ those feathers and blood could belong to.

Lucifer Morningstar was their consultant and most of the precinct had a soft spot for the man. Even the ones that didn’t at least respected him. Not that easy a feat considering that they’d spent the last four years thinking that he was a delusional club owner with behavioral issues that may or may not have a violent past.

Now they suspected that Morningstar was the literal Devil with behavioral issues and who most definitely had a violent past. It put everything that the man had ever said into perspective, though Jennifer still had a little trouble with the knowledge that they’d once brought _Satan_ to a case involving _Satanists_. Really, what were the odds of that happening? It was probably a first in the history of the world, which, hello existential crisis, thanks for stopping by.

“We have his DNA and fingerprints on file,” Edwards told her, voice low. “It was gathered the few times he ended up in medical. No one ever ran it, I don’t know why, but we have it. If that blood is his, it’ll be a match.”

Jennifer really hoped it wasn’t a match. She really, really did.

The two watched in morose silence as the scene was processed and forensics (not Lopez, if this was connected to Morningstar, there would a conflict of interest) took samples of everything that they could.

* * *

August 18th, 12pm

It was a match.

Jimmy Edwards wanted to scream and swear, though he managed to suppress the urge for the time being. If he stared now, they would have every officer in the precinct coming over to see what the fuss was about.

They couldn’t do that right now, not with the world on edge. Everyone was still digesting the fact that angels were real and the Devil worked for them as a consultant. A volunteer consultant at that.

Monroe had announced that morning that Morningstar had assured her that he was still perfectly happy to come in and consult. The implied _‘If you’re okay with having me around still’_ was heard by anyone who had spent enough time in Morningstar’s presence and heard the angry rants about libel to his person.

Those suddenly made a whole lot more sense, in a twisted way. For one, Prince of Lies was so far from the truth that Edwards couldn’t figure out where people had gotten it from. He’d been on surveillance a few of the times that Morningstar had been put undercover. The man couldn’t lie if his life depended on it, which it had, a few times. Since he apparently wasn’t delusional, that applied even to events concerning himself.

There were a few instances that Edwards remembered wishing the man would keep some things to himself, even. Ask him a question, you almost always got a straight answer. Or some version of the truth that had been phrased so expertly, you were convinced that the opposite answer was the truth. Which also made a lot more sense, with everything coming into perspective.

He had a feeling the Decker had been jumpy for more reasons than just Pierce being the Sinnerman. Their former lieutenant had most definitely been killed in self-defense. Edwards suspected that the Devil didn’t kill humans in self-defense often. Meaning that whole mess just got a lot more interesting and likely a lot more alarming, considering that the Devil was now involved.

He pulled up the reports and scrolled through them. Decker had filled out her own and Morningstar’s, as usual, and there were no hints of anything that didn’t seem normal. Normal if one of them hadn’t been the Devil.

Lopez’s and Espinoza’s reports held the answer that he was looking for.

“Oh Hell,” Edwards whispered, not believing it.

_‘Lucifer admitted to knowing Pierce was the Sinnerman. Claimed that he was Cain, from the bible, which he’d apparently told Chloe before.’_

_‘Lucifer was utterly convinced that Pierce was Cain, and insisted he’d been trying to tell Chloe that he was the Sinnerman for a while. Kept trying to convince us that it was all true.’_

Cain, who the fuck was Cain again? A biblical figure, according to Lopez’s report. It was just their luck that the LAPD was so used to ignoring the biblical references that came out of Morningstar’s mouth and didn’t end up using these in the official report sent to the FBI when the case was turned over. Sure, Lopez and Espinoza were interviewed and those got submitted, but their reports had been deemed unnecessary to turn over by the FBI after the interview.

A quick Google search later, and Edwards didn’t hold back his swearing.

“What’s with the profanity, Jim?” Richards called form his own desk, not far from him.

“Did anyone actually read Espinoza and Lopez’s reports from the Sinnerman investigation?” Edwards demanded without answering, standing up. “Any of you, at all?”

There was silence as the bullpen went quiet. Espinoza was out on a stakeout, he grumbled, or else this would have been a lot quicker than it was going to end up being.

The sound of keyboards and swears let him know that those present where pulling the files up and coming up with the same answer he’d found.

_‘Cain was the oldest son of Adam and Eve. He’s most known for killing his brother, Abel, and becoming the First Murderer. God, enraged, curse Cain with immortality.’_

If Lucifer Morningstar was the Devil and never lied, then the LAPD homicide department had been headed by the inventor of homicide. This was going to turn into a cluster fuck, he just knew it.

The blood results, minimized on his screen, haunted the back of his mind. Along with them was the analysis of that he’d also ordered. The LAPD had held the answer to the question of divinity sitting in swab bottles for two years. There was no known match to the blood type from any species on the planet.

Edwards was going to have take the results to Monroe. He was going to have to continue the investigation of the twelve dead priests (there was no doubt of that now) and the mystery of William Kinley.

Right now, he was going to find out everything that he could about the events that led up to this happening at all. If he wanted to do this right, to make sure that no one could turn this around and start a fucking war with literal fucking angels, then he was going to have to overturn every single rock for the truth.

Even if the answers that he uncovered were better left alone.

* * *

August 19th, 2pm

“Are you sure?” Monroe asked, voice heavy. She looked years older than she was, more tired than Jennifer had ever seen her.

In the end, she couldn’t blame the woman. This was a first in their department, maybe even in the world. She didn’t think that anyone else in human memory had ever been investigating crimes committed against the Devil by priests.

The Devil, who worked with them and joked with them, helping on cases and generally endearing himself to almost everyone that talked to him for more than a few minutes. Even if you didn’t count the various members of the police force who _hadn’t_ slept with the man.

His thing with desire was suddenly a lot more real than it had been when they’d all thought it was just a mind trick. Being the actual Devil had the whole thing making a lot more sense, with its hundred percent success rate. The only that claimed to have never been affected by it was Chloe Decker, and no one was sure if that was because of her or something else. A few people wondered if Decker just hadn’t noticed it working and if her ‘greatest desire’ was to be the best cop that she could be.

“The samples are a match. That blood belonged to Lucifer Morningstar and those ashes are William Kinley’s. We found fingerprints belonging to eight of the twelve priest all over the warehouse. That knife was filled with Decker’s blood and we found her bullet necklace in the pile of ashes, the one that Morningstar gave to her.” Edwards sighed, looking defeated. “The blood could have been stolen from the last time Decker got a draw. No one has seen her wearing the necklace with early in her relationship with Pierce, so it could have easily been stolen without her knowing. We’ve got her on camera in going into her apartment during the time that the break in was reported at LUX. I’m not convinced that she’s got absolutely nothing to do with any of this, but that gives her an alibi.”

Decker’s blood had been a surprise to everyone, Jennifer winced. The necklace hadn’t helped matters. It was mostly destroyed, probably from whatever power God had used to destroy Kinley’s body, but still had a bit of Chloe’s hair tangled in the clasp. It was her necklace, there wasn’t any doubt about that.

A little scouting around the warehouse district and they’d found a nearly intact car that was registered to Kinley from a rental service. Well, van, really.

Inside they’d found a vial that had traces of what was an extremely deadly poison and syringes full of sedative. There was also a notepad with a code that was circled in red and the words ‘service elevator’ above it.

A break in would be easy if you had the codes to the locks, Walters sighed. She hoped, rather badly, that Decker had nothing to do with this. Without her here to question, they couldn’t ask her either. If not for the fact that they didn’t want to start a possible witch hunt, Edwards would have taken the both of them to San Jose to do an interview.

The thing was everyone that had been involved in this had likely been smote by God. If Chloe Decker had been the one that had given out that code, then God would have already provided a punishment for her. They couldn’t even prove if she had been or not. The blood and necklace could have simple explanations, like Edwards had already said. The department required blood testing to be done at random, so the blood could have been stolen. The necklace hadn’t been worn for months and Decker might not have even noticed it missing. If she had, she might have thought that Pierce had been the culprit. The man would have had access to steal it at anytime and he’d proven to be the shadow leader of a huge shadow criminal organization.

Jennifer didn’t know what to think, one way or the other. Edwards was convinced that Decker had been in on it. He’d have gone and questioned her anyways, if it wouldn’t have been overkill.

Nothing the human justice system could deal would be worse than what God would’ve done, if Decker had been involved.

“We’ll keep her name out of the report,” Monroe sighed. “I want to say that Decker would never be part of this, but I also approved Marcus Pierce. Who has since turned out to be Cain, if Lopez and Espinoza’s reports are correct. You’ve confirmed that the missing priests were in the building?”

“Eight out of twelve,” Jennifer reported. “Their fingerprints were on various items in the warehouse. Two more not in the warehouse had prints in the van that was found parked not far away.”

That van had been nearly as horrifying as the warehouse, if not for the same reasons. Forensics had found more than just the sedatives and poison. There had been photos of Lucifer, at least a hundred. Each one had been taken from a distance and at different times of days. Kinley’s diary, hidden in a false bottom in the passenger seat drawer, had been filled with disturbing thoughts.

At one point, the man had been considering blowing up LUX during one of Lucifer’s sets, which were the busiest parts of the night. Hundreds of people would have died. The collateral as seemed ‘acceptable’ to the man.

That was just what was left in the thing. There were parts that seemed to have been completely wiped from existence. Random blank pages with no ink, even though there were the ends of sentences on the pages next to them.

Looks like whatever was on there, someone hadn’t wanted anyone else to know. Jennifer was pretty sure that it hadn’t been Lucifer. His prints were still in the van, contained to just the floor section and the actual fucking chains attached to the bottom of the rental van. If Lucifer had been lucid enough to wipe the journal, there wouldn’t have been a crime scene to find.

Edwards pinched face told her that he suspected the same being to be behind that. It gave the phrase ‘an act of God’ a new meaning, that was for sure.

Whatever those had gone down in that warehouse, and they had a good idea of what it was considering the evidence, it had provoked the reckoning that Kinley had received. Reading his private journals, some of which had been in the hotel room that they’d found from the keycard left in the van, Jennifer thought that he deserved his fate.

“Have you filed your report yet?” Monroe asked, looking at them both.

“No,” Edwards shook his head. “I thought it was better to give it to you before filing.”

The LAPD was being watched by the world as they investigated this case. As soon as they filed their reports and the cause of death, there wasn’t an agency in the world that wasn’t going to demand a copy. What had happened here had inspired a worldwide event.

There wasn’t any way of keeping this secret. Kinley had mailed his findings back to the Vatican before all this had happened. Most importantly, there were copies of some of his journal entries in the package, put there to ensure that nothing was misinterpreted. It would be at the Vatican’s door by now.

If the Vatican wanted to save face after this, they would have to reveal the contents of that package to the public and denounce Kinley’s plans. For being a despicable person, Kinley had been smart to keep copies of things in case something happened. He just wasn’t smart enough to know that anyone with a conscious would find it horrifying.

The LAPD would have to beat them to it with what they’d found if they wanted to make sure that the public viewed Lucifer as the victim in this. And in there was no doubt that he was the victim, that pull of blood and knife proved that.

That meant that Jennifer and Edwards weren’t the ones who needed to make the call of what would get released and what wouldn’t.

“Go finished your reports,” Monroe ordered, taking another look at the files Edwards had handed her. “I want them on my desk by tomorrow morning. Be prepared to be interviewed and don’t go anywhere alone until this has died down.”

“Yes ma’am,” Jennifer nodded while Edwards merely grunted and left.

Leaving the office of the Chief of Police, Jennifer mourned the lack of privacy that she was going to be experiencing from now on.

She really wished that the case had gone to someone else.

Olivia Monroe wanted nothing more than to take a drink and wish that this was someone else’s problem.

* * *

Lucifer Morningstar was the best consultant that the LAPD had ever had, and she wished that he’d never darkened their doorstep. Not just because of the headaches that he routinely caused, either. There was a good chance that none of this would be happening if the Devil hadn’t decided to be a police consultant. Worse, the LAPD wouldn’t be in the position that they were now.

Damnit, the man was just too damn endearing to hate. His biggest opposition in the force, one Daniel Espinoza, had even become part of the weird friend group that Morningstar had formed in the department. Even Ella Lopez, a religious forensic scientist, was counted among that number. Worse, with him came Mazikeen Smith, the best bounty hunter that any department in the states had ever met. Mazikeen Smith, who was more than likely a _demon_.

Now there were angels descending from above and making waves in the world. A Vatican official turned out to be an insane murderer who had found the literal Devil to aim himself at and was now a stone warning of what God would do to someone that tried to murder an angel.

She didn’t want to think about what state Morningstar would have been in to enrage the Creator of the Universe to the point of smiting priests and declaring that anyone who emulated them would end up with the same fate. Sadly, that pool of blood and those feathers didn’t leave much to the imagination.

She’d been a cop for years, she knew the signs of torture when she saw them. There had been a case of a bird that a boy had tortured to death, early in her career. The way those feathers clung to the blood and remained on the blade was eerily similar to what she’d seen then.

If she was any other Chief of Police, Olivia might have tried sweeping the whole thing under the rung. The last Chief of Police would have done it without a second thought. She wasn’t any other Chief of Police, though. Her own morals wouldn’t _let_ her pretend that this had never happened and leave Morningstar to the wolves of the world. Without all the facts, there were going to be people who claimed that Kinley hadn’t deserved what he’d gotten because it was _Satan._

Satan and the Devil were basically synonyms for evil in the minds of the world. Once, Olivia might have been one of them.

Now, she’d worked with the Devil for years and couldn’t find it in her to think of him as evil. Olivia had met evil, seen it in the eyes of serial killers and children traffickers. Evil was easy to identify.

She’d also seen people who had been prosecuted for something that they’d never done. How many times had an innocent person they questioned ended up dead because of some misguided revenge plot? Too many for her tastes.

It wasn’t that she didn’t think that Morningstar would lead a Rebellion against God. Getting the man to take orders was like pulling teeth. Somehow, Olivia didn’t think that God had any more success than the rest of them in that area. ‘Because I said so’ just did not work when it came to one Lucifer Morningstar. If you wanted him to do something, you had better have prepared a convincing argument and maybe even a bribe to get him to do it.

A Rebellion against God was not out of character for the person that she knew.

A being evil and intent on stealing the soul of humanity, that didn’t mesh. Free Will was something that Morningstar was very, very attached to. He _enjoyed_ when people argued with him and he _hated_ people who killed other people for selfish reasons. Someone that hated murder and other crimes that infringed on a person’s rights, could not be behind it all. It just wasn’t possible.

Delighting in people committing a little rebellion and delighting in the suffering of the world were two very different things.

She remembered the goat rant with a renewal of hilarity that was far greater than it had been when she’d first got wind of it.

Olivia sat back and considered her options. The LAPD was going to have to take a stand during this clusterfuck. The world was going to have their eyes on her people, and Lucifer Morningstar was one of _her people_ , and try to find a weakness.

She stood, slamming her hands down on her desk. She grabbed the file and stormed out of her office, plans starting to form in her mind.

If they were going to weather this storm, it was going to be all hands on deck.

* * *

August 20th

Pope Julius the Fourth wanted to string William Kinley up by his thumbs for this. Normally, he would berate himself for such thoughts but God Himself had punished Kinley for his crimes, so he gave himself a break.

The Pope had told Kinley to leave Lucifer Morningstar alone. He had order him to let the matter lie. Even if Morningstar was the Devil, and he was starting to think that was more of a fact than a question at this point, what Kinley had planned would not have stood. Not with the public of LA, who were fond of Morningstar, and not with the principles of the Vatican. Torture and murder were not acceptable methods to use when you didn’t have all the facts.

Julius should have been more suspicious when Kinley asked for a short three-week vacation, months later. Kinley wasn’t one that gave up on ideas easily. It didn’t even occur to him, at the time, to see where it was that Kinley had decided on going for his vacation. He’d been too relieved that it wasn’t going to be another argument, like that last six times Kinley had wanted to speak with him.

Granting it had been a mistake. Trusting him to behave in a matter befitting of a Vatican official had been a mistake. Making him a Vatican official was a mistake, though this one didn’t fall on Julius’ shoulders.

When the new of the Miracle UN Statue had reached them here, Julius had been horrified. He’d recognized him immediately, of course. You don’t just forget the face on someone that you’ve spent years working with. The only reason that he had waited so long to make contact was the denial that had filled him.

One look at Kinley’s flight destination had been the confirmation that he’d needed. Worse, the idiot had used his position within the Vatican to pull twelve low domination priests into his scheme. A scheme that had gotten them all killed.

Now he was staring at a package from LA addressed to him in Kinley’s handwriting and he wanted nothing more than to burn it.

They couldn’t do that, though. The standing of the Vatican in the world at the moment was not great. Whatever was in this package, it was relevant to everything that was happening now. The Vatican, and therefore the Pope, could not be caught unawares again. With a resignation to whatever he was going to find, Pope Julius opened the package.

The contents were benign in appearance. Photos of Lucifer Morningstar, taken at a distance and rather creepy to look at, sat at the very top. Papers filled with handwriting lay underneath them, along with what looked like a book that had been taken out of the archives.

Books from the archives were not supposed to leave the reading chamber, he sighed. Kinley had never been one to think that the rules of the Vatican applied to him. This was not the first time he’d taken a priceless piece of literature out into the world. It would, however, be the last.

The section that was bookmarked was blank, the Pope noted with a frown. There were other rituals, all of them pertaining to demonic possession and exorcism throughout the pages.

Feeling the page, he could feel remnants of the indent of letters. They were barely there, only in places where a human had used a heavy had as they inscribed, but they were there. At some point, there had been writing on these pages.

He had a horrible feeling that he knew what had happened. These exorcisms all had one thing in come: they involved blood, death, and the magic of a divine object to function. It was torture, plain and simple. The only reason that they still had this was the historical value that it held.

If Kinley had used one of _these_?

The Pope felt sick to his stomach. If Lucifer Morningstar had been a regular human suffering from delusions, there was a good chance that whatever this ritual had been would have killed him. As it was, he wasn’t sure that the Devil had fared much better.

God had punished Kinley for a reason. The more Julius learned, the more that he wished that he had paid more attention to the man when it had been possible to stop this.

It was too late to do anything now.

With a quick moment to brace himself, he read the letters that Kinley had included. The more that he read, the more ill he felt. Everything was written in full detail: the plans that involved someone who’s name had been wiped out, the plan to poison the Devil and perform the ritual, the poison’s components, even back up plans if whoever this mysterious person was backed out.

He couldn’t bury this like he wanted to. He couldn’t pretend that he had no information on what had been the catalyst to the Angels returning to Earth. If he wanted to prove to the world that they had no knowledge of anything that Kinley had been doing, this box was their only way.

Kinley had, in a way, given the Pope the tool to persecute him in the eyes of the world.

“Sir!” a voice called, bring the Pope’s attention from his predicament. “The LAPD has concluded its investigation into Kinley and the twelve priests. They’re holding a press conference now.”

He looked at the date on the customs processing. It had only entered the country yesterday and had been delivered early this morning. Even if the LAPD had found the same information that he held here, the Vatican could easily prove to the world that they had only just come up with the information themselves.

He was relieved that he wasn’t going to be the one that had to face the cameras and tell the world just what it was that had brought the Wrath of God on humanity.

* * *

God watched it all, doing His best to keep His rage from manifesting in physical form.

He knew what was going to happen when He’d decided to leave the warehouse standing and the evidence within. He could have easily made it as if nothing had ever taken place there and kept the world from ever knowing the details of that night.

He’d even considered it. It was why He’d left a barrier around everything to keep it hidden from human eyes until He decided what was to be done. William Kinley was always going to be a message, though He had not known what He’d wanted that message to be at first. Humanity had needed to remember that while He was forgiving, He was also the same God that had ordered death and destruction onto Egypt.

Slavery of any kind was blasphemy to Free Will. Egypt had not been the First to deal with such things, He was well aware of that. It was merely the one chosen to bear the Message to humanity about His opinion on the matter. It had worked, for a time. The people of Egypt had proven to Him that they had heard. Human memory, however, is not long-lasting. It was merely a century later that they had returned to their previous methods.

The Goddess had been unsurprised to see it, unlike Himself. In His fury, He had sent Uriel to initiate the eventual downfall of the Egyptian people, down to their very language falling into obscurity.

Slavery, to His fury, continued to spread throughout the world. He could not order it gone, as that would infringe on His Gift to humans. Instead, He had resigned Himself to it.

Then, to His surprise, Humans had begun to combat it on their own. Not with complete success, He admitted, but it was better than what it had been.

He could still remember Lucifer’s role in sending Moses on his way. He’d only just decided to act and send down Gabriel when his Lightbringer had taken matters into his own hands. That Burning Bush had been inspired, He’d laughed for the first time in centuries during that one.

That was the day that He’d start paying just a tad more attention to Lucifer whenever he was on Earth. Not enough, seeing as He had missed what was happening with the religions of the world in response to His Lightbringer. Just enough to gradually let the anger at His fade, until He’d decided to try to fix their relationship.

As it turned out, He should have chosen a different option than the one that He had. Chloe Decker should never have been born.

That was why He was paying attention to what was going on now. He wasn’t planning on letting anything escape His attention ever again. Not when it could end with five of His children coming to harm. One had been bad enough.

He didn’t think that He would allow a third chance if Humanity cost Him another child. His Children would be less forgiving, if He was reading them right. While the trial of William Kinley had been necessary, it had stirred a fury in His Children that had only grown the longer they’d watched Lucifer interact within the Infirmary.

During his Rebellion, Lucifer had only had a third of the Host on his side. Should God forgive Humanity if another of the Host was injured, He suspected that all of His Children would join whoever started the next Rebellion.

A moot problem, God thought, as He would not be so forgiving.

Parents didn’t forgive trespass against their children easily. In His case, it was only the actions of the Lucifer’s Humans that had saved Humanity from His full wrath. He’d been fully prepared to rain destruction onto the world that day.

Watching as the humans that His Lightbringer worked with rallied around him, God couldn’t help being grateful that He had not done so. He was not sure what He had done wrong with Chloe Decker, as these humans seemed to have no trouble with accepting His son. Perhaps, He thought, it was because of Free Will and nothing to do with His actions.

He did not know. He did know that He would not be creating another Miracle for a very long time, if He ever decided to do so again. The risk was not worth it.

He had erased every mention of that ritual in existence. That didn’t mean that something else would not come and threaten His children again. It had happened once, which meant that it could happen again.

The anxiety that thought created had Him checking on all His children. He only breathed easier once He ascertained that they were all as well as He had last seen them.

As it was, He had distracted Himself well enough that His rage at hearing His Lightbringer’s pain again had faded until there was not risk of setting off an earthquake in response. That would not help matters, He didn’t think.

Free Will made omniscience harder. Instead of one sure path, there were branches that led to more branches.

One thing was sure in each branch, His son was not going to like having what happened announced to every human who could turn on a TV or work a computer. It was, however, the best way to keep His son safe. If it was not, He would have destroyed the warehouse and every evidence that led back to His son, until there was no proof of what had happened. It would have left Lucifer the choice of whether or not to be upfront about it all.

He had, in rare wisdom when it came to Lucifer, made sure to send a warning in advance. Through Michael, so as not to inflict any strain that His presence might cause. Their relationship had much to go through before He could visit without worry.

While this was a step better than angered ranting at the sky and silence, He did not count the Miracle a success. Anger ranting and silence was much better than what had happened, God was certain of that much.

He sighed and settled down to watch more. This would be the most important part.

* * *

If the Almighty hadn’t warned that this was coming, Lucifer would have been screaming at the sky right now.

There wasn’t a new station in the world (he had looked) that wasn’t playing Olivia Monroe’s press conference, announcing what the LAPD had discovered in their investigations into the Twelve Missing Priests as well as William Kinley. Thankfully, there hadn’t been any camera’s in that warehouse so there weren’t any photos of him strung up and bleeding.

There were, however, photos of the blood and feathers that were strewn about the place. Lucifer hadn’t even thought about that being a possibility. He’d just assumed that it would have been cleaned up while the Almighty was smiting humans.

It never occurred to him that God had been keeping it hidden and waited to see what to do with it.

He wanted to be angry about that. Probably would have been, had this happened when he’d just woken up. Now, he couldn’t get the anger to rise. Mostly because, truthfully, this wasn’t his Dad’s fault.

That thought felt strange, even if it was true.

When Lucifer had found out that Chloe was a Miracle, he’d thought that any feelings she’d had were manufactured. Everything that happened since had proven that his Father hadn’t done a thing to Chloe’s feelings concerning him. If her feelings were planted, Chloe never would have been able to give him over to Kinley. None of this would be happening if God had ensured that she would love him.

Everything that was happening now was, in a way, Lucifer’s fault for being so stupid as to trust her. He’d been so happy that she’d accepted him, he hadn’t paid attention to the signs that there was something off in the way that Chloe had been acting. He’d ignored everything and grasped the idea that they could be happy together with both hands. Tricked himself into thinking that Chloe’s behavior had to do with Pierce and not her true feelings for him.

The light can’t lie but it can trick. Lucifer had never really done it to himself before, so he’d forgotten that. He’d also forgotten that humans, that Chloe, were perfectly able to lie. Humans hadn’t been able to lie to him since their creation and he’d become complacent in that. Complacency had been how Cain had convinced him that he was better for Chloe. It was also how Chloe had convinced him that she loved him.

God had nothing to do with that, so this wasn’t His fault. It was Lucifer’s. And, if Linda was to be believed, it was Chloe’s.

He wasn’t all that sure of the last one, even if Linda insisted on it.

If his Dad was to be believed, this was the best possible outcome for him. It wasn’t going to be possible not to connect him to Kinley. According to Ella, the LAPD had been on the road to figuring it out before the True Naming had pulled away from the lingering doubts as to his identity in human minds. While that was manipulation, which Lucifer usually hated, it wasn’t just to Lucifer benefit. This would benefit his siblings as well.

As it turned out, Lucifer cared more about his siblings’ safety than he did about human Free Will. He had killed Uriel and that had nearly destroyed him. If he asked, Michael was sure that their Father would keep this from happening. Lucifer, even if he was skeptical, found he couldn’t do so. If he did and one of his siblings suffered for it, he didn’t think that there would be a way to come back from that. The thought made his chest ache.

It was the same reason that he hadn’t been able to agree to his Mum’s plan. A war waged by the Goddess of Creation could destroy some of his siblings. Lucifer, naïve, had thought that he would have never been able to do something that ended with that result.

After Uriel, he hadn’t cared as much. Or maybe he hadn’t _thought_ he’d cared as much.

Another thing that he was going to have to bring up with Linda, Lucifer sighed. If he hadn’t been convinced that he needed therapy before, he was starting to be convinced now.

“It is the intention of the LAPD to keep Mr. Morningstar on as a consultant,” Monroe said, face hard on the screen.

Lucifer sucked in a breath, suddenly paying a lot more attention than he had been. Michael sat still next to him, intent in every muscle.

Predictably, the reporters were suddenly shouting questions at the woman.

Lucifer waited, his attention rapt on the screen.

In his soul, he began to hope.

* * *

Olivia Monroe looked at the mob of reporters that were shouting at her and felt her head begin to ache at the noise. She kept her face passive under the barrage of words. She couldn’t make out any individual questions, though she didn’t think that she really needed to. It wasn’t hard to figure out what they wanted to ask.

It wouldn’t matter, either. Homicide had been adamant that they keep Morningstar on, and they hadn’t been the only ones. The Mayor had been a bit more hesitant, though he’d caved after she’d pointed out the solve record associated with him and his status as a dignitary. Being on the good side of the Devil probably also hadn’t hurt, even if she hadn’t needed to resort to that for him to agree.

She was backing him the same way that she tried to back all her officers. “One at a time, please,” she said dryly.

The shouting died down as the reporters began to let the information sink in. “Is the LAPD not worried about Mr. Morningstar’s status as being the Devil?” a woman asked, hand raised.

“No,” Monroe shook her head. “Mr. Morningstar has always been open about his identity; it is only recently that we’ve started believing him. He has always been the Devil, that hasn’t changed.”

She looked to the next hand. “Ma’am, are you not concerned about the safety of the officers that work with him?”

That one had her rolling her eyes. “Mr. Morningstar has worked with us for four years. In that time, there hasn’t been a single instance that an officer was hurt by him.”

Not county Pierce, she thought. That wasn’t public record, however. She narrowed her eyes at the reporter and-

“What about Lt. Marcus Pierce?” the reporter asked.

Someone was going to be fired, she thought. It wasn’t from her end either. Pierce’s spies in the LAPD had been rooted out using his records. That meant that this had come from further up the chain or a hacker. Either way, heads were about to roll in the FBI.

“Lt. Marcus Pierce was killed in self-defense,” she answered easily. “He has also, in light of recent events, been identified as Cain. Something Mr. Morningstar had tried to report and been ignored.”

Because it was insane went unsaid. It was still heard loud and clear. The moment that Edwards (that man deserved a raise, that was for sure) had made the connection, she had called Mazikeen Smith.

Smith had been more than willing to tell her everything that went down. It was no wonder Decker had been jumping at shadows after that. “Pierce, or Cain if you prefer, somehow broke the curse placed on him by God and was seeking to regain it by killing an angel. When his first attempt on another angel within the city failed, he went after Mr. Morningstar. He had acquired a weapon that works on angels, stolen from a demon, and was attempting to use it when he was killed.”

Olivia almost couldn’t believe that had come out of her mouth. From the look on the faces of the reporters, they couldn’t either. What a world they were living in when something like that was an actual reality.

She needed a drink.

“You trust that?” the same reporter asked. There was an edge to their voice that Olivia didn’t like.

“Seeing as that was the report given from the officer at the scene, the angel that was the first attempt, Mr. Morningstar, and the demon the weapon was stolen from?” Olivia asked. “Yes, I do.”

Sneering, the reporter allowed someone else to ask a question. Olivia eyed them and, for a moment, noticed the small silver cross peek out from their shirt. A religious fanatic, she thought with a sigh. There had always been the chance of that happening. They just hadn’t expected that Pierce would be the weapon used.

“What are the procedures that are going to be put in place for the supernatural element?” another asked.

“The LAPD is waiting to find out the full range of abilities that might be applicable before procedures are put into play.” That was an easy one, she thought. While useful, there was probably not going to be anymore scaring the shit out of witnesses until they confess. Or at least not to the extent that Morningstar had currently been using it.

Like the humans, they were going to have to be the ones that figured out where the middle ground was. Morningstar’s lack of understanding of human norms meant that he couldn’t be the one to make that judgment. They also couldn’t expect an Archangel who as the literal Devil to know what human limits were. They couldn’t even expect the trauma to even matter much to the man, who was used to dealing with souls that had committed enough crimes to be sent to Hell.

They were also going to have to talk to Smith about her own methods for the same reason. Hopefully, they could avoid announcing that they were also employing a demon bounty hunter until matters had settled a bit. It helped that Morningstar had been named as one of the visiting dignitaries. That was going to get them a lot of leeway from the government, hopefully.

She was hoping that would be enough.

The press conference continued along that vein. When it finally ended, Olivia hoped that it had done what she wanted it to.

* * *

Lucifer was, quite honestly, baffled.

That wasn't entirely new when it came to dealing with humans.

Somehow, LUX had become _more_ popular after the press conference announcing his status to the world. Not just by Satanist, either, though there those as well. He had Patrick kicking out any group that gave signs of it.

He didn’t _want_ his own religion, thank you. Lucifer was quite happy to leave that to his Father and continue on his own.

Even more bizarre than the LAPD publicly defending him (though he was extremely touched) was the lack of resignations by his own employees. There hadn’t even been a mention of leaving or even an acknowledgment that Mazikeen and himself were not human.

He was never going to understand humans, he finally decided. Especially not these humans.

Though they had paused when Michael had come down that first time. Honestly, your boss is publicly announced to be the literal Devil, and it was the twin brother that was shocking?

Humans!

At least, Lucifer reflected, he now knew better than to just spring Michael on the LAPD. Getting his Twin to agree to wait until Lucifer called for him had been the hard part.

Getting Monroe’s message to come in had been a lot less nerve-wracking now that she’d publicly announced that he was being allowed to continue on as a consultant. He’d grown fond of the place over the last few years. He hadn’t thought much about it until Chloe had been gone for a month and he’d still found himself coming in. While it wasn’t as interesting as going on cases, it was still an activity that he greatly enjoyed.

Lucifer suspected that he wasn’t going to be picked for any undercover assignments in the near future. Which was fine by him, if he was honest. Trying to work around the truth enough to allow anything undercover to work as a hassle.

_‘Stop distracting yourself and go in,’_ Michael grumbled. His Twin was perch in the shadows of the building next to the precinct, hidden to everyone that wasn’t Lucifer or God. It was the only way that he could get his Twin to agree to be left out at the beginning of this.

Sighing, he braced himself and walked into the precinct.

Silence greeted him as all eyes turned his way. He shifted, uncomfortable under the attention. He enjoyed attention; he just wasn’t used to it being positive once people finally realized who he was. Linda had been one of the first humans not to have been put off by the entire thing. That had taken time, though.

More time than what the collective officers of the LAPD had been given. Lucifer hadn’t been expecting to be called in for at least another week.

The cheering the broke out nearly had him bolting.

That was most definitely not the normal reaction to his presence. In fact, Lucifer couldn’t really remember the last time that he’d been greeted that exuberantly. He glanced around and found Ella, grinning brightly at him from the hallway leading to her lab. He really should have expected the following hug, honestly.

He squirmed, not wanting to pull her off and having absolutely no idea what he was supposed to do with his hands. Was this the part where you hugged back? Was there an etiquette to this?

He settled for patting her head and hoping that she would let go soon. It was the best fallback that he had at this stage. If this was how the Spawn and Ella were always going to greet him, Lucifer was going to finally have to figure out the etiquette that was involved instead of hoping he got it right.

He was pretty sure that he didn’t get it right, judging by the stifled snort coming from the scientist as he patted her head.

“I have really got to teach you how to hug,” Ella announced, letting go as she did so.

Lucifer immediately started fixing the ruffled suit and pretended that he didn’t see the amused stares of the other officers.

“Morningstar!” Monroe shouted. “My office!”

Shouting was a good sign, right? Lucifer grinned at Ella and pretended not to notice the eyes that followed him as he moved towards the voice.

She was sitting at her desk when he entered, motioning for him to close the door. He shrugged and closed the door, distaste swallowed for now. Doors were, for some reason, important among humans and he’d become resigned to that for the time being.

“Right then,” she said and proceeded to stare at him. Intently.

After a few minutes, Lucifer started wondering if she was waiting for him to speak first. He was starting to feel uncomfortably like a child that was being inspected for signs of mischief. It was a look that Mum had been more than happy to turn on him and Michael whenever something inexplicable seemed to have happened. Which was unfair as it had definitely not always been them causing the mischief.

He was pretty sure that Amenadiel had been behind a few of the more outrageous events that had been blamed on them. That thing with the dragon had definitely not been him, fire or no fire.

They were, however, behind the sudden change of color that the had turned the Silver City bright orange for a few days when Dad had decided to change it back.

None of those things, Lucifer reflected, where at all relevant to this discussion. Or lack of discussion.

The silence dragged on.

Finally, Monroe sighed. “You have absolutely no idea why I called you here, do you?”

“Not a clue,” Lucifer agreed. “I’m assuming that it isn’t to fire me, based on your press conference yesterday?”

He wished he was more confident about the answer to that. But if Chloe had been willing to turn on him, he wasn’t sure he was confident that the rest of the LAPD wouldn’t decide to follow her example.

“No,” she said, looking surprised he even asked. Then she sighed again. “Which you wouldn’t know because you have no idea how to read human behavior.”

Ah, so it _was_ obvious. He’d wondered. He used to take cues from Chloe on the more confusing humans. He also wasn’t sure what, exactly, he was supposed to expect from all this.

“You’re here so that we can get a baseline on the things we can expect you to be able to do,” Monroe began. “In light of the fact that you are, in fact, the literal Devil, we need to know your baselines. What do to when you’re injured, abilities that you can and likely have been using, and the like. At this point, I think we can assume that you have contacts that the LAPD doesn’t normally have access to. Human and otherwise.”

That was not what he had been expecting. Lucifer frowned at her, trying to find anything that could be interpreted as deception.

There wasn’t anything. Her breathing was even, as was her heart rate, and her eyes didn’t have anything beyond what he was used to seeing from her. He relayed the conversation to Michael, just in case he saw something that Lucifer had missed.

_‘I think she’s being honest,’_ his Twin answered back. There was a pleased tone in the reply as well.

He waited a moment, just in case there was going to be a protest from a different area. When none came, Lucifer merely shrugged and settled back into the chair.

“There’s my ability with desire,” he answered, allowing a small smirk to form. “As you are aware, I can draw out the greatest desire of a person. Along with that, I sometimes have a calming effect on humans. Rare, these days, granted. It’s not strong enough that a negative reaction to my name won’t break through it.”

Well, not unless he Willed it not to. That wasn’t something that he was planning on doing, however, and didn’t bear mentioning.

“Like all my siblings, I have the ability to travel between dimensional barriers, above human strength, and generally, I’m invulnerable.” He shrugged. “Though there have been some exceptions to that. In any case, I heal faster than any human. A bullet wound is usually gone within a few hours.”

It was lucky that his healing was one of the few things that Chloe’s presence hadn’t tampered with. Otherwise, that poison would most definitely have just straight up killed him. He didn’t really want to think about what would have happened if Kinley had been given access to his dead body with that magic. It would have taken time for his body to restart from the poison, allowing him to go back to it.

“I have control over light,” he added, pushing that thought aside. It hadn’t happened so it didn’t really matter. Monroe’s eyes were furrowed as she listened. “That includes fire,” he said, calling a small flame onto his hands.

It was this ability that had allowed him dominion over Hell. The fires were as much a subject of him as the demons were, bending to his Will. The flame licked at his fingers gently.

“What about a bad injury?” she asked, noting down a few things. “Taking you to the hospital doesn’t seem practical. We don’t know what the differences between you and a human are enough to depend on paramedics.”

“I suppose praying to Raphael would work,” he said, considering. His sister would be able to take care of anything that humans couldn’t and a feather wouldn’t do. Speaking of feathers.

Lucifer unfurled his wings. “I, quite obviously, can fly. One of the abilities that angels possess is that we can fly through solid matter. I am also able to bypass any lock, which I’ve demonstrated in the past.”

Neither of them commented on the fact that both of these abilities explained how he’d been able to get out of the cell that Pierce had thrown him into when Lucifer ‘attacked’ him. Verbally, not physically like Cain had implied.

“Anything else?” she asked, a hint of resignation to her voice. Lucifer considered the question before answering.

“Nothing that would be advisable to use on a human,” he told her. He was the Will and that came with much more than he usually allowed himself to think about.

It was why he could keep Michael from going off on a human. It was what allowed him to Rebel when angels were mostly hardwired to follow orders. It was everything the very name implied.

It was also something that Lucifer refused to use unless given no choice.

He was also going to keep the ability of angel feathers to himself. All of this was going on record. Advertising that angel wings could heal any wound would be a very good incentive for the greedier of humanity to go after an angel. Lucifer would throw himself back into Hell before he allowed his siblings to be targeted by greed.

There was, however, something else that he was going to have to be clear on. It would save him a lot of trouble if everyone was aware of it now.

“This isn’t an ability,” he started slowly.“More a result of being Light. I am unable to lie.”

Monroe stared at him. He stared back.

Silence echoed around the room.

“You can’t lie,” she repeated.

“Exactly,” he nodded. “It is an aspect that is inherited from my Father, I’m afraid.”

It was the one thing that had never bothered him to share with God, even during his more furious ranting. There were quite a few times where it would have been nice to lie, however overall, it was immensely useful.

“That explains a lot,” the police chief murmured. Then she continued in a louder voice, “Is there anything else I should know? Currently, we have Amenadiel as your emergency contact. Is there anyone else that we should add, not counting praying to Raphael?”

Ah, yes. It was probably for the best that she had mentioned that. His Twin wasn’t going to keep waiting for much longer and Lucifer intended to visit Ella before he left.

“There was something else,” he hesitantly told her.

“Something else?” she asked, curious.

“One of my jobs,” he started. “Job might not be the right word. Task? Either way, one of my parts in this chaotic mess is to accompany Michael while he’s on Earth. Because of that, Michael is likely going to be around when I am.”

Monroe looked up, eyes flittering around the room. “I don’t see him here?”

“I talked him into waiting outside,” Lucifer explained. “I was made aware that he might cause some concern if he were to just show up with me when I introduced him to my staff at LUX.”

“Concern?” she asked, a looked of resignation on her face. It was the same look he’d seen on Chloe’s face during their partnership.

He pushed that thought away when the familiar ache that accompanied Chloe distracted him from the now. Before he could answer, Michael had finally lost the rest of his patience and appeared in the room.

“We’re twins,” he told her, unnecessarily.

Her eyes were wide as she glanced between them.

* * *

Chloe Decker wanted to bury her head in her new pillows and pretend that nothing was happening.

Starting the day by getting a replay of Monroe’s press conference, which Chloe had missed the day before, had almost sent her running back to her just cooling bed. Every word that came out of her former boss’ mouth was like a bullet to the gut.

Every officer in the LAPD was putting their support behind her former partner, Devil nature and all. The same people that had once turned on her when she had investigated Malcolm were now telling the world that Satan was on their payroll and that he was staying that way.

How the times had changed.

Once, Chloe would have claimed that she would’ve been right there with them. Lucifer had been her best friend and possible love interest. They’d had so much together that a past version of Chloe would never have pictured how things had turned out.

Maybe, while Lucifer had changed for the better, Chloe had changed for the worst.

She’d spent so long convincing herself that being with Lucifer wouldn’t work, so many hours listing the reasons why that was, and it had never worked. Every point on that list had a counterpoint that always left her twisted up inside. Lucifer was loud, flashy, a complete pervert, and he was gentle, soft, and unnervingly sweet.

When Marcus, when _Cain_ , had purposed, Chloe had been so ready to settle. She hadn’t really cared that there was little chemistry and that Marcus set off all of her instincts. She forced herself to ignore the voice the demanded that something was wrong with him. Chloe had wanted the furthest thing from Lucifer that she could find because she was just so certain that Lucifer would never want her.

She hadn’t been able to go through with it.

Then Marcus had killed Charlotte, was the Sinnerman, was _Cain_. Lucifer, her brash, sweet, loud, and loyal partner? Was the literal Devil, standing over the body of the first murderer. Blood and feathers coated the room, for a moment, before nothing was there. She had brushed it off as a trick of the light at the time.

Chloe suspected that hadn’t really been the case. Lucifer had moved stiffly the entire time that units processed the scene.

She had been too caught up in the burnt face, saying her name, to notice it. Chloe wanted to go back in time and slap herself.

All of this was happening because of her.

Worse, Lucifer had nearly died forever because she was stupid enough to trust a priest that claimed he was evil. Just like when she’d dated Marcus, Chloe had ignored the voice in her head shouting that something was wrong. The same one that had been her tool in solving murders for years.

In the end, Chloe Decker had ruined the lives of herself, her daughter, and her best friend. She had destroyed the relationship she had with all of her friends in one single decision. A decision that had then proceeded to Damn her to Hell.

She almost wished God had wiped her from existence. Chloe had always thought that death would be the end of everything, having that be true wouldn’t have been too bad.

Trixie wouldn’t talk to her anymore. Every time Chloe tried to call, her daughter would hang up. Dan had promised that if their daughter wanted to speak with her, that it was Trixie’s choice so Chloe couldn’t even blame it on him.

It was been Chloe’s choice to pour that poison into Lucifer’s drink and it was Chloe’s choice that Trixie know about it. Even God had tried to spare her little girl from that. Like with everything else, there was no one else to blame.

Now that Angels were rejoining the world, Chloe couldn’t even pretend that it hadn’t happened. She couldn’t pretend that Marcus Pierce had been an ordinary crime boss, that Kinley was a name she’d never heard before, and that Lucifer Morningstar was just another friend that had grown apart.

Monroe wasn’t stupid, either. If they had found Kinley’s ‘ritual ground’ and all of his things, she would have found the blood and necklace that belonged to Chloe. From there, any one of the detectives in the LAPD could have connected the dots back to her. For all she knew, those journals that the units had uncovered in Kinley’s van could have her name listed on one of the pages. Along with her part in getting Lucifer into that warehouse.

The pictures of the crime scene had been released as well. Chloe nearly threw up as she looked at the blood and feathers that coated the floor.

It reminded her of another pool of blood coating the floor of a warehouse, while a madman threatened to kill her and her daughter. Like now, that had been her fault. Lucifer would never have been there if he hadn’t been following her.

If Chloe had left Palmetto alone, there was a good chance that Lucifer would have continued on with his life and never ended up chained and bleeding under the knife of a psychopath in robes.

She ignored the ringing of her phone. Her mother had been calling nonstop since the news had broken.

Chloe didn’t know what to say to her. Penelope Decker would be horrified to find out what her daughter had done.

How did you tell your mother that you helped to nearly murder your best friend and God had damned you to Hell? She would know eventually, Chloe knew that. The whole world could know eventually.

She didn’t think that she could tell another person that she loved what she had done. Especially since Penelope adored Lucifer.

Why was it that it had taken Lucifer’s near-death for her to remember everything that he had been to her. Everything she knew about him, all of which had disappeared in the last two months, was flooding back to her. The way he looked at her after she had saved LUX, the way that he had grinned with Dan’s stolen pudding in his hand, the way that he had told her that he was no good for her, all of that assaulted her. In her dreams, she saw him dead on the floor with Kinley standing over him.

She wondered if the blood and feathers were going to make an appearance in her dreams tonight.

She buried her head in her knees and cried.

* * *

Trixie Decker Espinoza wanted time to turn back and for things to go back to the way that they had been.

Back then, her mom had been her hero and Lucifer had been the second father that she’d always wanted. Trixie had always been so sure that the two would get married one day and that she could officially add Lucifer to their family. Next to Maze, Lucifer was her favorite person.

That wasn’t going to happen now.

Trixie hated Marcus Pierce and she hated William Kinley. Before they had come, everything had been going right. Maze was living with them, Lucifer and Mom had been getting somewhere, and her Daddy was keeping all of his promises.

Then her mom had brought Marcus Pierce home one day and suddenly, everything that Trixie had come to expect her little family to be had disappeared. Maze started getting meaner and Lucifer stopped coming over as much. The only good thing that had happened was her Daddy was dating Miss Charlotte.

Marcus Pierce had ruined that too. He killed Miss Charlotte and tried to kill Mom and Lucifer. It was because of _him_ that they went to Rome and the horrible man had convinced her mommy to send Lucifer back to Hell. Lucifer had nearly died forever and her mom had helped that happen.

Now her mom had moved away, and Lucifer was different.

He was sadder and not as loud as he used to be. He paused more and didn’t seem to always know what to do with himself. He still stiffened and he still played small pranks on Daddy, he was still _Lucifer_ , he was just different. Not as happy.

Trixie couldn’t remember the last time that Lucifer had laughed. He didn’t even laugh when Maze threw knives as Michael whenever Michael did something to annoy her. He smiled but he didn’t laugh.

He didn’t sit her down and tell her that her mom wasn’t a bad person, either. He didn’t even talk about her mom to anyone.

Trixie couldn’t help it she had wanted Lucifer to tell her that her mom hadn’t meant to hurt him. She wanted Lucifer to sit her down and tell her that Mom had just made a mistake like Daddy had.

She kept that thought to herself, a secret that she never wanted anyone to know. Trixie knew that if she asked Lucifer about her mom, he would try and defend her. While Trixie wanted that reassurance, she also knew that Lucifer couldn’t lie. If Lucifer defended her mom, Trixie knew that he would mean every word of it.

That would be worse than the silence was. It would mean that Lucifer thought that he was less important than her mom. Lucifer always put her mom first, Trixie _knew_ that. She’d watched him leave after Mr. Marcus had made her mom cry that first time. When Marcus came over the next day to apologize, Trixie knew that Lucifer would never do anything that would upset her mom even though it hurt him to see her with someone else.

Knowing that and knowing what Chloe had done in return made Trixie want to scream and cry.

Mostly, she felt tired. The kind of tired that she’d used to feel whenever a nightmare of that man in the warehouse kept her awake. There was a bit of fear and a bit of anger, with a lot of sadness wrapped around her heart.

Miss Linda told her that it was normal to feel this way. That even if Trixie was angry at her mom, it was okay to still love her. It was okay to want things to go back to how they were. Trixie thought that Miss Linda would have something else to say if Trixie told her how much she hated Marcus Pierce, how much she wished that Lucifer would tell her that Chloe had just made a mistake.

She wanted, more than anything, to forgive her mother. Every time she woke up and remembered that her mom wouldn’t be waiting for her with breakfast, her heart hurt.

“Little human?” Trixie looked up to see Maze watching her from the couch. They were still living with Lucifer because Daddy was worried that if they left Lucifer would think they didn’t want him around anymore. Well, that’s not what he’d said but that was what Trixie knew he’d meant.

“Hi Maze,” she tried to smile. It felt wrong on her face.

Smiling was really hard right now when all she wanted to do was cry.

Maze looked at her. The demon had gotten really good at reading Trixie, much better than she’d been when she first moved in with them. “Do you want to talk about it?” Maze asked, looking like she wanted to do anything else.

Trixie wasn’t sure why, Miss Linda had said the same thing every time she talked, but Trixie couldn’t keep it in anymore. The tears streamed down her face and she sobbed. As Maze’s arms wrapped around her, Trixie told her everything that she’d been feeling.

Instead of anger, Maze started petting her hair. “Oh little human, you should know that I wouldn’t blame you for having selfish thoughts,” the demon tried to comfort. “Have you talked to Linda about any of this?”

Trixie shook her head.

Maze frowned. “You really should. Linda won’t judge you for it. She puts up with me and Lucifer all the time.”

Trixie thought of the various times Linda had complained about the two doing the exact opposite of what she told them and giggled. It was probably what Maze had intended since the demon had a smug look on her face.

“Okay,” she said, wiping her eyes. She made a face as she realized that her nose was running. “Can we go practice knife throwing?”

Throwing knives had become one of Trixie’s favorite things to do with Maze. Just like she thought, Maze perked up.

“You got it, little human!” the demon grinned at her.

Letting herself be dragged to Maze’s old rooms, Trixie felt some of the confusing emotions in her chest lighten.

Maybe Miss Linda was right when she said that talking really did help.

* * *

Rage.

That was all the creature felt as it clawed its way through blood and bone. An intense burning rage that demanded it kills anything in its path.

The creature had been bound for so long that it had almost given up hope of ever tasting flesh and fresh blood again. Millennia chained down and locked away in the deepest caves of the Infernal realm, nothing had so much as visited it since the day that glowing prey had caged it.

Then, without warning, the chains had disappeared and the creature had been able to rip down the cell walls that kept it inside.

All around it, blacken beings and slivers of light fell under its hunger. Their blood fed into the creature’s power and it basked in the flow of magic in its bones. It had been so long since magic had been this effortless. With each new death, the magic surged inside of it.

The one that imprisoned it was not here, though the creature had searched for it everywhere. It wanted to taste the blood of the glowing prey on its tongue. It wanted to hear the screams as the being who dared think to keep it caged fell under its fangs.

“ **WHeRe!** ” It roared. “ **WhErE iS tHe FiRe LoRD?** ”

The small black prey quaked in from of the creature. “Earth!” it cried. “The King is on Earth!”

Satisfied with the answer, it killed the small black prey quickly. None dared fight the creature as it turned its attention onto the gates that kept the Infernal in.

If its’ prey was on this ‘Earth’ then that was where the creature would go.

Revenge would taste glorious and the power the glowing prey’s blood would grant the creature would be enough that it could consume all that tried to stop it.

The creature roared as the hunt began.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you all enjoyed the newest installment!
> 
> In the next few weeks, I'll be working on a side fic that will have the deleted scenes from this series that didn't quite mesh what I was planning for things to happen but still liked enough that I didn't want to keep them. I've got 65 pages of unused text that are either me playing around, scenes I didn't like, or just things that fit in the story. I'd tell you word count but Word has given up on the word count and will only tell my page numbers. Take that how you will.


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